Stones laid, works fail to take off

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 18

Ahead of the Assembly elections, Union Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal hurriedly laid foundation stones of various projects in the district, but the work on around six major projects have not able to start yet.

It seems that the SAD-BJP government got the foundation stones laid with a motive to lure voters before the Assembly elections as stones of even some of the projects were laid which failed to get proper clearances from the authorities concerned.

Harsimrat laid the foundation stone of the AC bus stand on December 13, 2016, but the work on the project has not started till date as the Army authorities had not given NOC for it yet. They had stated many times in the past that they would not give clearance to the project due to security reasons as the spot was close to the Army area.

Though the project was gathering dust for the past many years, Harsimrat laid its stone without getting clearance from the Army ahead of the poll.

The stone of the second generation bioethanol plant at Talwandi Sabo was laid by the local MP on December 24, 2016, but the work on the project had not been started yet.

Even the foundation stone of the multi-storey parking project was laid by her on November 9, 2016, on the Mall Road in the city, but its work had also not been started till date. The project was hanging fire for the past many years.

Harsimrat also inaugurated the main pumping station disposal in the Canal Colony area on November 9, but till date the station had not been handed over to Triveni Company to begin operations.

The project was also hanging fire for many years.

She laid the stone of a sewerage treatment plant (STP) project at Adarsh Nagar ahead of the elections the work on which also failed to take off.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) vice-president Manpreet Singh Badal said the SAD-BJP government tried to take cheap publicity by laying foundation stones ahead of the poll code as during their 10-year rule, they did not thought about these projects which were gathering dust for the past many years.

He also claimed that the projects require administrative and financial approval initially, but SAD-BJP leaders laid foundation stone of various projects without taking approvals.

Manpreet said after coming to power, the Congress would continue with these projects and would abolish the tradition of laying foundation stones in the state.

BJP leader and Senior Deputy Mayor Tarsem Goyal said the projects had not been able to start due to the poll code of conduct and technical issues. However, all these projects would be completed.